June 30 Mexico update

(All of these updates are copied from emails that the 'other' Pastor Greg sent while the team was in Mexico.)

Copied and pasted from an email from Pastor Greg Mulligan:

It’s Monday, June 30th, and I’m emailing at 6:10 local time here in Ensenada, Mexico. What an amazing first day it’s been for us here at the YUGO EOC (Ensenada Outreach Centre)! Here’s a very brief update from each of the 4 work teams:

1. Building Team #1 (led by Daryl Hewko)
a. Highlights … the resourcefulness of people and the willingness to work. Daryl was VERY impressed with the hard work ethic and effort of his entire team. Normally the teams have a generator to power the mitre saw for quick and accurate cutting, but today the generator did not arrive for the first 2 hours of the project! So the team grabbed a handsaw from the work truck, began measuring and getting at it! What a team!
b. Prayer Request: for the health of those who took on too much sun today! A couple of sunburns … nothing serious, but tomorrow could be a tougher day for them.

2. Building Team #2 (led by Dallas Wooden)
a. Highlights … the team got a TON accomplished today, and are apparently quite ahead of schedule on their house! As well, the son of the project foreman has been involved, and some of the boys are building a neat relationship with him through this.
b. Prayer Request: it has been difficult for the rest of the team to build relationships with the single mother and her 2 daughters, who will be receiving the home at the end of this week. Please pray that God would create those opportunities tomorrow for the team.

3. VBS Team (led by Charity Vetsch)
a. Highlights … awesome first day! There were 29 kids in attendance, and a number of other youth and adults from the church. And watching the youth interact with the children is very cool!
b. Prayer Request: health and energy levels for our team … the heat is very exhausting!

4. Mercy Team (led by Tracy Frey)
a. Highlights … the team got a TON of painting done on the new youth centre … and accomplished much more than Pastor Tony expected we would in the first day! Each team member worked very hard, and looked like a semi-professional painting crew by the end of day … covered in paint from head to toe!
b. Prayer Request: physical and emotional strength for tomorrow … and for the opportunity to work alongside some of the national people here (unfortunately our first day was spent working just as a team, with virtually no contact with people from here – please pray that we will be able to encourage Pastor Tony to recruit some of his youth group to come and help us in this, so we can interact with them as we work!).

From a pastoral perspective, we have already encountered some of the “adventure” that we were praying for during our Sunday night commissioning service in Grande Prairie … adventure that included being rerouted at the Mexican border and finding our own way through the heart of Tijuana, and being followed by a military vehicle upon our arrival in Ensenada (probably just making sure the convoy of 7 white vans was going to be OK)! Please continue to pray for a great adventure in all of this, and pray too for our patience and ability to be full of grace and love … the YUGO base is FULL this week (168 people from 4 different locations here all at the same time). And on an interesting side note … 3 of the 4 groups here this week are from Alberta!!!

Thanks for praying for us! We are counting on our team back home through each and every day!